A Blank of Wrapping Material

ABSTRACT

A blank of wrapping material ( 3 ) foldable about a tobacco industry product ( 1 ) having a peripheral edge is disclosed. At least part of the peripheral edge has a non-linear profile and when the blank of wrapping material ( 3 ) is folded about a tobacco industry product the at least part of the edge having a non-linear profile overlaps another part of the peripheral edge.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a blank of wrapping material forenclosing a tobacco industry product. A blank of wrapping material forenclosing a charge of smoking articles and a bundle of smoking articlesreceived in a pack are also disclosed.

BACKGROUND

Smoking articles such as cigarettes, cigars or cigarillos, are typicallybundled together and wrapped in a sheet of material, for example, asheet of paper laminated with metal foil. The sheet of material helps topreserve the freshness and the aroma of the tobacco in the smokingarticles. The wrapped bundle of smoking articles is further stored in apack which protects the cigarettes from mechanical and environmentaldamage. The pack can be enclosed in an outer transparent plastic film soas to further ensure that the smoking articles are protected from anyenvironmental impact.

To access the smoking articles, a user pulls on a tab of the plasticfilm such that the plastic film tears open. Thereafter, the user opens alid of the pack such that the laminated paper is exposed. The paper istypically formed with a line of weakness, such as perforations, so thata user can easily separate a portion from the remainder of the paper bytearing it along the line of perforations so as to gain access to thesmoking articles held within.

SUMMARY

According to the present invention, there is provided a blank ofwrapping material foldable about a tobacco industry product having aperipheral edge, wherein at least part of the peripheral edge has anon-linear profile, and when the blank of wrapping material is foldedabout a tobacco industry product, the at least part of the edge having anon-linear profile overlaps another part of the peripheral edge.

In one embodiment, the at least part of the edge having a non-linearprofile is uppermost when the blank of wrapping material is folded abouta tobacco industry product.

In one embodiment, the blank of wrapping material comprises a portionthat is separable from a remainder of the blank of wrapping material andat least an edge of the removable portion has a non-linear profile. Thenon-linear profile may be in the form of a zigzag.

According to the present invention, there is also provided a bundle ofsmoking articles for insertion into a smoking article pack comprising acharge of smoking articles and a wrapping material enclosing the chargeof smoking articles, the wrapping material having overlapping edges,wherein at least one edge has a non-linear profile.

In one embodiment, the wrapping material comprises a portion that isseparable from a remainder of the wrapping material and at least an edgeof the removable portion has a non-linear profile.

The non-linear profile may be in the form of a zigzag.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided asmoking article pack having a bundle of smoking articles as describedabove received therein, the pack comprising a body and a lid that closesover an edge of the wrapping material having a non-linear profile.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a transparent front view of a wrapped bundle of smokingarticles according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the wrapped bundle of smokingarticles shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a top view of the wrapped bundle of smoking articles shownin FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows a blank of wrapping material for wrapping a charge ofsmoking articles;

FIG. 5 shows a top view of another embodiment of the wrapped bundle ofsmoking articles according to the present invention; and

FIG. 6 shows a pack for receiving a wrapped bundle of smoking articlesaccording to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way ofexample only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The present invention relates to a sheet or a blank of wrapping material3 for enclosing or being folded about a tobacco industry product, forexample, a charge of smoking articles.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 a chargeof smoking articles wrapped in a wrapping to form a bundle for insertioninto a smoking article pack. The wrapping comprises an elongate sheet orblank of wrapping material 3, as illustrated in FIG. 4, which enclosesthe charge of smoking articles 1 such that said smoking articles arearranged in rows with the longitudinal axis ‘A’ of each smoking articlebeing parallel to one another. The elongate sheet of material 3 may beformed from foil or paper laminated with foil.

The sheet or blank of material 3 encloses the charge of smoking articles1. It is folded about the charge of smoking articles such that it formsa front wall 4 and a rear wall (not shown), wherein the front 4 and rearwalls are parallel to the longitudinal axis ‘A’ of the smoking articles.The sheet of material 3 also forms a bottom wall 5 facing thecombustible end 6 of the smoking articles. Furthermore, the sheet ofmaterial forms side walls 8, 9 and atop wall 11 of the wrapped bundle ofsmoking articles 2 as will now be described.

The side walls 8, 9 comprises side flaps 4 a, 4 b (only right side flapsare visible in FIG. 2) that extend from the front 4 and rear wallstowards the sides of the bundle and that are folded around onto thesides of the smoking articles. The flaps 4 a extending from the frontwall 4 overlap the flaps 4 b extending from the rear wall.

Similarly, top flaps 14 a, 14 b, 14 c, 14 d extending from the frontwall 4, rear wall and the two side walls 8, 9 in an opposite directionto the bottom wall 5 are folded across the mouth end 7 of the smokingarticles so as to form the top wall 11. The top flaps 14 c, 14 dextending form the side walls 8, 9 are folded first, thereafter the topflap 14 b extending from the rear wall is folded and lastly the top flap14 a extending from the front wall 4 is folded such that it overlaps allthe other top flaps 14 b, 14 c, 14 d.

The sheet of material 3 comprises a line of weakness 12. This line canbe scored, perforated or punctured so as to form a weakened line. Theline of weakness 12 extends between opposite long edges of the sheet ofmaterial 3 such that it defines a portion 13 of the sheet of material.When the sheet of material 3 encloses the charge of smoking articles 1,the line of weakness 12 is located on the front wall 4 and on itscorresponding side flaps 4 a (only one flap is visible in FIG. 2) whichforms part of the side walls 8, 9 of the bundle. Thus, the portion 13forms an upper end of the wrapped charge of smoking articles.

To remove the portion 13 from the wrapped charge of smoking articles, auser pulls on the top flap 14 a extending from the front wall 4 of thewrapped charge of smoking articles 2 such that wrapping tears orseparates along the line of weakness 12. The user pulls in a directionparallel to the longitudinal axis ‘A’ of the smoking articles which isrepresented by an arrow ('B′) in FIGS. 2 and 3. This direction isreferred to as a first direction.

The top flap 14 a extending from the front and forming part of the topwall comprises a leading edge 14 e as is best seen in FIG. 3. Theleading edge 14 e has a zigzag shaped profile such that the leading edgeis longer than in a conventional wrapped charge of smoking articleswhere the corresponding leading edge is straight or linear. The generaldirection of the leading edge is parallel to the front 4 and rear wallsof the wrapped charge of smoking articles 2. Advantageously, the zigzagshaped longer edge 14 e increases the friction between the bundle ofsmoking articles 2 and the smoking article pack in which it is receivedreducing the risk of lid of the smoking article pack from accidentallyopening.

In an alternative embodiment, the leading edge 15 of the flap 14 aextending from the front wall 4 is curved as seen in FIG. 5.

The leading edge of the top flap 14 a that lies uppermost is not limitedto following the paths or be formed into the shapes described above. Itshould be appreciated that the scope of the invention includes anyconfiguration where at least a portion of the leading edge of theuppermost top flap is configured to follow a non-linear path. Forexample, the leading edge of the uppermost top flap 14 a, 14 b mayalternatively follow a wavy or an oscillating path.

The present invention is not limited to the top flap 14 a extending fromthe front wall 4 lying uppermost. It should be appreciated that the topflap 14 b extending from the rear wall may lie uppermost. Thus, in thisembodiment, the top flap 14 b extending from the rear wall comprises aleading edge having at least a portion which is configured to follow anon-linear path.

In yet another un-illustrated embodiment, the uppermost side flap 4 a, 4b which extends from the front and/or rear wall comprises a leading edgewhich has at least a portion which follows a non-linear path. Thus, theside flap(s) extending from the front and/or rear wall which liesuppermost comprises a leading e which may follow a zigzag, curved, wavyor oscillating path as described above. It should be appreciated thatthe leading edge of the uppermost side flaps and the top flap may followa particular path.

The bundle of smoking articles is receivable in a smoking article pack.Preferably, the smoking article pack 20 comprises a body 21 and lid 22as seen in FIG. 6, wherein the lid 22 can be opened and closed so as toprovide access to the bundle of smoking articles.

In the embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the leadingedge of the uppermost flap extending from the front wall 4 is concealedwhen the pack is closed, and visible when the lid is opened.

It should be appreciated that the bundle of smoking articles 2 asdescribed above is not limited to the pack described herein. The bundleof smoking articles can be inserted into any pack which enables a chargeof smoking articles to be wrapped in a wrapping having a removableportion so as to access smoking articles held therein.

As used herein, the term “smoking article” includes smokeable productssuch as cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos whether based on tobacco,tobacco derivatives, expanded tobacco, reconstituted tobacco or tobaccosubstitutes and also heat-not-burn products. The smoking article may beprovided with a filter for the gaseous flow drawn by the smoker.

Furthermore, the blank of wrapping material according to the presentinvention can be folded about any tobacco industry product and so is notlimited to enclosing a charge of smoking articles.

A tobacco industry product refers to any item made in, or sold by thetobacco industry, typically including a) cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars,tobacco for pipes or for roll-your-own cigarettes, (whether based ontobacco, tobacco derivatives, expanded tobacco, reconstituted tobacco ortobacco substitutes); b) non-smoking products incorporating tobacco,tobacco derivatives, expanded tobacco, reconstituted tobacco or tobaccosubstitutes such as snuff, snus, hard tobacco, and heat-not-burnproducts; and c) other nicotine-delivery systems such as inhalers,lozenges and gum. This list is not intended to be exclusive, but merelyillustrates a range of products which are made and sold in the tobaccoindustry.

A tobacco industry pack refers to any pack that can contain and/orreceive a tobacco industry product.

In order to address various issues and advance the art, the entirety ofthis disclosure shows by way of illustration various embodiments inwhich the claimed invention(s) may be practiced and provide for superiorbundle of smoking articles or superior blanks of wrapping material. Theadvantages and features of the disclosure are of a representative sampleof embodiments only, and are not exhaustive and/or exclusive. They arepresented only to assist in understanding and teach the claimedprinciples. It should be understood that they are not representative ofall claimed inventions. As such, certain aspects of the disclosure havenot been discussed herein. That alternate embodiments may not have beenpresented for a specific portion of the invention or that furtherundescribed alternate embodiments may be available for a portion is notto be considered a disclaimer of those alternate embodiments. It will beappreciated that many of those undescribed embodiments incorporate thesame principles of the invention and others are equivalent. Thus, it isto be understood that other embodiments may be utilized andmodifications may be made without departing from the scope and/or spiritof the disclosure. As such, all examples, implementations, and/orembodiments are deemed to be non-limiting throughout this disclosure.Also, no inference should be drawn regarding those embodiments discussedherein relative to those not discussed herein other than it is as suchfor purposes of reducing space and repetition. Various embodiments maysuitably comprise, consist of, or consist essentially of, variouscombinations of the disclosed elements, components, features, parts,steps, means, etc. Some of the disclosed features, elements,implementation, etc., may be mutually contradictory, in that they cannotbe simultaneously present in a single embodiment. Similarly, somefeatures are applicable to one aspect of the icy disclosure, andinapplicable to others. In addition, the disclosure includes otherinventions not presently claimed. Applicant reserves all rights in thosepresently unclaimed inventions including the right to claim suchinventions, file additional applications, continuations, continuationsin part, divisions, and/or the like thereof. As such, it should beunderstood that advantages, embodiments, examples, function, features,structural, and/or other aspects of the disclosure are not to beconsidered limitations on the disclosure as defined by the claims orlimitations on equivalents to the claims.

1. A blank of wrapping material foldable about a tobacco industryproduct having a peripheral edge, wherein at least part of theperipheral edge has a non-linear profile, and when the blank of wrappingmaterial is folded about a tobacco industry product, the at least partof the edge having a non-linear profile overlaps another part of theperipheral edge.
 2. The blank of wrapping material according to claim 1,wherein the at least part of the edge having a non-linear profile isuppermost when the blank of wrapping material is folded about a tobaccoindustry product.
 3. The blank of wrapping material according to claim1, wherein the blank of wrapping material comprises a portion that isseparable from a remainder of the blank of wrapping material and atleast an edge of the removable portion has a non-linear profile.
 4. Theblank of wrapping material according to claim 1, where the non-linearprofile is in the form of a zigzag.
 5. A bundle of smoking articles forinsertion into a smoking article pack comprising a charge of smokingarticles and a wrapping material enclosing the charge of smokingarticles, the wrapping material having overlapping edges, wherein atleast one edge has a non-linear profile.
 6. The bundle of smokingarticles according to claim 5, wherein the wrapping material comprises aportion that is separable from a remainder of the wrapping material andat least an edge of the removable portion has a non-linear profile. 7.The bundle of smoking articles according to claim 5, where thenon-linear profile is in the form of a zigzag.
 8. The smoking articlepack having a bundle of smoking articles according to claim 5 receivedtherein, the pack comprising a body and a lid that closes over an edgeof the wrapping material having a non-linear profile. 9-10. (canceled)